"WHEN it's @3got@1 to be," -- like I always say, As I notice the years whiz past, And know each day is a yesterday, When we size it up, at last, -- Same as I said when my boyhood went And I knowed @3we@1 had to quit, -- "It's @3got@1 to be, and it's @3goin'@1 to be!" -- So I said "Good-by" to @3it@1. It's @3got@1 to be, and it's @3goin'@1 to be! So at least I always try To kind o' say in a hearty way, -- "Well, it's @3got@1 to be. Good-by!" The time just melts like a late, last snow, -- When it's @3got@1 to be, it melts! But I aim to keep a cheerful mind, Ef I can't keep nothin' else! I knowed, when I come to twenty-one, That I'd soon be twenty-two, -- So I waved one hand at the soft young man, And I said, "Good-by to @3you!"@1 It's @3got@1 to be, and it's @3goin'@1 to be! So at least I always try To kind o' say, in a cheerful way, -- "Well, it's @3got@1 to be. -- Good-by!" They kep' a-goin', the years and years, Yet still I smiled and smiled, -- For I'd said "Good-by" to my single life, And now had a wife and child: Mother and son and the father -- one, -- Till, last, on her bed of pain, She jes' smiled up, like she always done, -- And I said "Good-by" again. It's @3got@1 to be, and it's @3goin'@1 to be! So at least I always try To kind o' say, in a humble way, -- "Well, it's @3got@1 to be. Good-by!" And then my boy -- as he growed to be Almost a man in size, -- Was more than a pride and joy to me, With his mother's smilin' eyes. -- He gimme the slip, when the War broke out, And followed me. And I Never knowed till the first fight's end . . . I found him, and then, . . . "Good-by." It's @3got@1 to be, and it's @3goin'@1 to be! So at least I always try To kind o' say, in a patient way, "Well, it's @3got@1 to be. Good-by!" I have said, "Good-by! -- Good-by! -- Good-by!" With my very best good will, All through life from the first, -- and I Am a cheerful old man still: But it's @3got@1 to end, and it's @3goin'@1 to end! And this is the thing I'll do, -- With my last breath I will laugh, O Death, And say "Good-by" to @3you!@1 . . . It's @3got@1 to be! And again I say, -- When his old scythe circles high, I'll laugh -- of course, in the kindest way, -- As I say "Good-by! -- Good-by!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OF THE MEAN AND SURE ESTATE by THOMAS WYATT TAM O' SHANTER by ROBERT BURNS DEFEAT AND VICTORY by WALLACE RICE THE BROOK; AN IDYL by ALFRED TENNYSON REFUGE by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. I AM FREEZING by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS A SOCIETY MARTYR by JOHN CLINTON ANTHONY |